Fade to Black
by Abigal
Summary: No real Angst. Abigal is trying to re-emerge...hope to improve on stories in near future Rating no more than T I think


Some spoilers for Season 9. Not mine, everything is Kudos and/or BBC. Abigal returns. It's not my best…but give me a few weeks and perhaps the Christmas spirit will inspire me to write better…

Fade to Black…

They are in bed together. His arm is around her neck. Her hand is on his chest. They are content. Had you told them hours ago this is how the day would end, neither would have believed it.

First, they barely spoke to each other, since she went behind his back and spied on Lucas and he then told her he had reason to doubt her judgment since she had done so.

Both were fuming with each other. Then Ruth in her graceful way stumbled into an assassination plot. Of course she had a little help from Dimitri when he told her to follow her instincts…did he want her killed? She smiled as she thought of Dimitri and how his innocent little remark led her to empty the cartridge of the gun into the would be assassin, who planned to count her in his kill score.

Fortunately she had fought him off until CO19 arrived. Harry was there to take the gun. Then they went their separate ways, no comments. He left the debriefing of Ruth to Demitri, since it was officially his case. He returned to his office to find out what was going on with Lucas.

Lucas he learned was now on the run. "Lucas North is Dead," he told Harry.

Now having declared Lucas a Rogue agent, MI5 was in all out search mode for him. He hated to admit that Ruth had been right…then again she usually was in all these cases.

Harry tried to find a time to apologize to Ruth, but again that issue of timing kept interfering. He was dashing one place. She was working on other intel relted to Lucas.

She and Harry's eyes connected. She could read his apology and nodded in acceptance. He smiled in acknowledgement. Still no time to talk.

Then as he was listening in to the chase, he heard Ruth scream. Lucas had her. His heart stopped beating for a second.

Ruth was thinking, "This is Lucas. What is he doing. Why take me. I know nothing about what he wants." She later told him this as he handcuffed her to a pole in an empty warehouse.

"It's not what you know. It's who you love, or should I say who loves you." Ruth froze for a second at the comment. Once again a man had kidnapped her and threatened her life because of Harry Pearce. At least this time there was no one else to hurt and she told Lucas this. "Will you kill me? No one will care."

"That's where you are wrong. Harry will care. It always goes back to Harry. You might as well marry him. You are always going to be a weakness for him and he for you. So it makes no difference. Don't you two see everyone knows there is no one Harry loves more than you. You read the classics. You are his Achilles heel. It will never be different."

Lucas chose this moment to call Harry. "I have a deal to propose to you. Your Ruth for Albany, and a face to face meet. I will give you the location just before. I want no CO19 or other tricks. I want it to be just between the two of us."

Harry hangs up the phone knowing there is no alternative but to give Lucas what he wants. "I love Ruth and will not be responsible for her death even if it means my death or a prison sentence."

As he arrives at the appointed site, Lucas releases Ruth, and as they pause, Harry reaches for Ruth and kisses her as if it will be the last kiss he will ever give her. He also passes her a disk. It is Albany and he knows she will keep it safe.

As Lucas approaches from the helicopter he has landed on the roof of the building, he watches for any potential snipers. "Where's the file?"

"I gave it to Ruth as we passed." Lucas swerved, but Ruth had disappeared behind pillars on the rooftop there was no way to spot her. He held the gun to Harry's head. "That was very foolish. Now I will never have Maya. You will never have Ruth." He olds the barrel of the gun to Harry's head and Harry feels the cold steel against the base of his skull.

Then just as suddenly the gun is pulled away from his head. He hears a gunshot, and feels blood spray the back of his head, but he knows he has not been shot. He's stunned at first. Then turns.

Lucas, having realized there was no way out, decided at the last minute to leave Harry alive for Ruth. He didn't do it for Harry, only for Ruth who had been through almost as much as he had in recent times, but in recent ways.

Harry kneels and knows Lucas is gone. Ruth steps out from her hiding place and runs to Harry. He stands and holds her then they kiss again. She is alive in body and spirit.

They pull apart and Ruth says, "Harry take me to your bed tonight."

For the first time in days Harry smiles. " I will take you there tonight and every night. I love you Ruth Evershed."

"I love you Harry Pearce."

They walk away from the scene and after leaving their reports at Themes House they both surreptitiously leave the grid and head for Harry's home.

Their clothes are grimy. They need a shower. Still as they cross the threshold of his house they can barely keep their hands off each other, but know timing is everything. This time they make it to the shower, which only heightens their desire for each other as their passion grows.

Finally, they step from the shower in unison and dry each other off. Then slowly they begin to once again explore each other's body and wage a war within themselves to maintain a slow and loving pace which passion threatened to overtake.

Finally they were in bed. Not just in the bed, but all over the bed and there was no going back from this line they crossed. She knew it and he did. Sensing her slight concern, he turned to face her and said, "I will never hurt you. I will always tell you the truth and most importantly when you tell me I have a rogue agent I will never doubt you."

"I'll hold you to those words," said Ruth as they snuggled together and the scene faded to black as they found the most peaceful of sleep either of them had known in years.


End file.
